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ACT Right to Life AssociationN E W S L E T T E R |
First Quarter 1999 (January - March)
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Inside This Issue
Informed Consent
President's Report
Karinya House
A Pill to Die For?
In Brief
Abortion: A Failure to Communicate
Australian Law and the
Unborn Child
Right to Reply
Informed Consent
In the early hours of 26 November 1998, the ACT Legislative Assembly took a final vote
to enact Independent MLA Paul Osborne's Health Regulation (Maternal Health Information)
Act 1998.
The new legislation was welcomed by the ACT Right to Life Association as a great step
forward in attempts to reduce the number of abortions by way of such provisions as
informing women of the nature and dangers of abortion, providing a three day cooling off
period and protecting medical staff who conscientiously object to being involved in the
provision of abortion. (Details of the new legislation were given in the Spring 1998 ACTRTLA newsletter.)
The new Act is, in fact, the only successful pro-life legislative initiative on abortion
which has been achieved anywhere in Australia.
HOW THE VOTES FELL
Although the final vote on the Bill was taken in the early hours of 26 November, the
crucial vote was taken some hours earlier, on the evening of Wednesday, 25 November. The
vote, which determined that the Bill was supported by the Assembly in principle, was
passed 10 - 7. Those members of the Legislative Assembly who gave in-principle support for
the Bill were:
Kate Carnell, Greg Cornwell, John Hargreaves, Harold Hird, Gary Humphries, Trevor Kaine,
Paul Osborne, Dave Rugendyke, Brendan Smyth, and Bill Stefaniak.
After his amendments were agreed to by the Assembly (though these amendments did not
receive support from Paul Osborne and a number of other pro-life MLAs), Health Minister
Michael Moore MLA added his vote to those supporting the Bill.
REACTION TO THE NEW ACT
Once the new legislation was passed by the Assembly, despite warnings from those opposed
to the Bill of the dire consequences that would follow if it were passed, it was notable
how many pro-abortion commentators were quick to try to paint the Bill as being of no
particular consequence - just a minor irritation.
Other commentators were not quite so concerned about putting the right "spin" on
the result. The Canberra Times (27 November 1998) reported that "executive director
of Family Planning ACT, Sandra MacKenzie, said the compulsion to read officially
sanctioned information and view pictures of embryos, contained in the new Bill, was an
insult to women and their medical practitioners. Family Planning [who own and operate
Canberra's abortion facility] would be seeking legal advice on doctors' obligations and
patient confidentiality and saw the result as 'a foot in the door for
right-to-lifers'."
Although the enactment of this legislation was a great step forward, the Association's
work in this area is by no means over. Our next task is to take an interest in the
drafting process for a new information pamphlet which, under the new legislation, must be
presented to women considering an abortion.
President's
Report
During January I was talking to a young man who has an 11 year old daughter. This man was
only 17 when his 16 year old girlfriend became pregnant. He is still angry that she
deliberately got pregnant and failed to tell him that she had stopped using contraception
He told me that his girlfriend had a previous pregnancy when she was 13 and that her
parents had forced her to have an abortion. He said that the abortion experience had left
her "totally messed up." He blames her desperation to get pregnant at age 16 on
her abortion at age 13 -- and she too now acknowledges the connection.
He told me that he was very happy with the Osborne Bill and that it will ensure that women
are informed of all the possible risks associated with abortion. He then went on to tell
me about a number of other women he knows who have been devastated by their abortion
experience.
After all the criticism the Osborne Bill received, it was great to receive encouragement
from this young man.
One other positive spin-off from the debate on the Osborne Bill was that Post-Abortion
Syndrome (PAS) and the possible links between abortion and breast cancer were being
discussed in the newspaper, on morning radio and no doubt in the wider community. The
devastating effect that abortion is having on our society is becoming obvious to more and
more people.
Why is it that people working in the abortion industry are failing to see the obvious?
Nicola Pantos
President
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Up and Running
The new year has begun with an ever-increasing demand for the services provided by
Karinya House. We also have an arrangement with Pregnancy Support Service so that
pregnancy crisis calls are diverted to Karinya at nights and through the weekends.
Karinya is staffed 24 hours a day by nine staff who often work beyond the call of duty.
The House has been full with three residents since the first week of January and, since we
opened, residents have ranged in age from early teens to late thirties. The women often
express delight at the warm and welcoming environment of the House (not to mention our
productive and flowering garden) and frequently say, on leaving, that they have benefited
greatly from their time with us.
Increasingly we are also supporting pregnant women in the community who do not require
accommodation at Karinya. This support involves counselling, advice and referral to other
services, assistance with ACT Housing applications and practical assistance.
The 1998 car raffle raised $40,000 and was won by Mrs C Kear of Wanniassa. Thanks to all
for your unfailing support. We continue to be supported by numerous people in the
community - financially and through the donation of time, handmade baby clothes and/or
other items. We are always grateful for these efforts in caring for pregnant women.
If you feel you could assist on a regular basis in supervising home-schooling (using a
Distance Education package) for a young teenager, we would love to hear from you on
telephone 6259 8998.
Kathryn Millar
Assistant Coordinator
A Pill to Die For?
The contraceptive pill which has been, in various formulations, on the market for a
generation and a half has been widely promoted as preventing conception - hence the name contra-ception
(against conception).
In the interests of precision, let's recall that conception is the moment at which the
sperm penetrates the ovum. Implantation in the womb may occur around 6-14 days later and
is a separate event. A new life begins at the moment of conception - not the moment of
implantation - because from the moment of conception the fertilised egg (or zygote) is a
new human being and has all the genetic material necessary to grow into adulthood.
These distinctions are important, because often it is claimed that early abortions do not
occur as women are not pregnant at that stage. Any induced death of an unborn human being
is an abortion.
Strictly speaking, then, contraception is the process of stopping the sperm reaching the
ovum. Once conception has occurred, any action which stops the pregnancy progressing (no
matter how soon after conception this action is commenced) must be termed abortifacient
rather than contraceptive.
While various formulations of the Pill do act as a contraceptive, the effect is often that
of an abortifacient simply because conception is not always prevented. Some varieties of
'contraceptive' pills, such as the "morning after pill" are explicitly designed
to be abortifacients. Because they may act before implantation has taken place, the woman,
in many cases, is not even aware that she has had a chemical abortion.
Is this important? Yes, for those who are opposed to abortion no matter how early it
occurs.
Further Reading:
Wilks, J. A Consumer's Guide to the Pill and Other Drugs, 1996, TGB Books (Melbourne).
In Brief
In a recent radio interview, Professor David Ellwood, Head of Women's and Children's Heath
at Canberra Hospital and an opponent of Paul Osborne's Health Regulation (Maternal Health
Information) Bill, acknowledged that there are psychological consequences of abortion.
"I think its important that women who are choosing abortion are aware of the
fact there will be psychological consequences. They will go through some degree of
grieving following the procedure and it is often difficult for each individual to assess
just what the psychological consequences could be." (Professor David Ellwood,
interviewed by Keri Phillips on ABC Radio 2CN, Thursday, 19 November 1998).
One wonders how Professor Ellwood reconciles his view with the Reproductive Healthcare
Services (abortion clinic) pamphlet, which merely says that "… it is not unusual
to feel sad or depressed two to six days after the operation".
President of the ACT Right to Life Association, Nicola Pantos, published an article in the
Christmas 1998 edition of the Catholic Voice, welcoming the enactment of Paul
Osborne's abortion bill and explaining some of the implications of the Bill. Copies of the
article are available from the ACT Right to Life office. n
